What is your plan, Daryl
Morey? Morey claims to be engaged in a
seemingly infinite practice of “asset accumulation.” The idea, as the story goes, is to continue
to accumulate “assets,” which in basketball parlance means young, cheap players
and the rights to future draft picks so that when the next Disgruntled Superstar
– be it Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, or currently, Dwight Howard – demands a
trade, the Rockets can exchange a heaping scoop of assets for the Disgruntled
Superstar.

To the casual observer,
it feels like Houston has made lateral move after lateral move since the
retirement of Yao and the decline of former basketball demigod Tracy McGrady,
constantly exchanging good players for other good players, assembling a roster
of good but not great talent, and finishing on the outside looking in come
playoff time.

Last offseason, in the
now-infamous “Basketball Reasons” trade which was nullified by Commissioner
David Stern, Morey attempted to trade SG Kevin Martin, PF Luis Scola, PG Goran
Dragic as well as a first round pick to get C Pau Gasol. The rumor at the time was that Morey would
then turn around and sign PF Marc Gasol, Pau’s younger brother, as well. Basketball Reasons prevailed, and Stern wound
up vetoing the trade which would have also sent PG Chris Paul to the Los
Angeles Lakers.

In the weeks preceding
the draft, there were the usual Twitter grumblings that Morey would once again
accumulate assets, this time to get child-man Dwight Howard. Kyle Lowry’s name was mentioned as possible
trade bait, because after all, Lowry was so good
through the first three months of last season that there was a “Kyle Lowry: All
Star?” sentiment bouncing around the NBA Twittersphere. Not only was he just
entering his prime and signed to an incredibly team-friendly
contract through 2013-14, but he was putting up poor man’s Jason Kidd numbers –
and I’m talking Nets Jason Kidd merged with the latest iteration who happens to
shoot 3’s. Through three months Lowry
averaged 16 points, 7 assists, almost 5 rebounds, and 2 steals in over 35
minutes per game, plus a 40% 3-point stroke.
Lowry was filling it up, going for 18 assists on December 31st,
33/9/8 on January 14th, and his first triple-double on January 23rd
in a head-to-head battle with Ricky Rubio (16/10/10). Lowry played defense like a pitbull, and
fought in the paint for rebounds like a forward. He could push the fast-break, set people up,
and hit the 3 when the ball came back to him.
He would presumably be a very nice asset.

At the night’s
conclusion, however, Morey and the Rockets were left with a very nice haul out
of the first round: SG Jeremy Lamb, F Royce White, and F Terrence Jones. But still no Howard, still no superstar to
build around, and still, Kyle Lowry was a rocket.

The Lowry made sense, to
a degree, after Lowry’s backup, Slovenian Goran Dragic, had emerged as more
than capable after Lowry went down late in the season with a slew of injuries
(a bacterial infection and a sports hernia, among others). Lowry remained a Rocket after the draft,
and soon after free agency started on July 1 it was announced that Dragic had agreed
to a deal with the Phoenix Suns to replace outgoing PG Steve Nash. Now, with Dragic gone, surely the Lowry
rumors would subside.

Lowry will fit in great
in Toronto. Head coach
Dwane Casey, the defensive coordinator of the Dallas Mavericks’ championship
team in 2010, greatly revamped the Raptors defense last season, and will
greatly enjoy finding ways to use Lowry to harass the opposing point guard.

For Houston, on the
other hand, this trade marks what is looking more and more like a slow death
march towards irrelevancy and the firing of Daryl Morey and his asset accumulation
plan. Until that day, Houston fans will
have to root for more future first round picks and continue to cross their
fingers that one day, someday soon, a Disgruntled Superstar will demand a trade
and the GM assigned the task of trading Disgruntled Superstar will take a look
at the Rockets roster and think to himself, “Wow, a bunch of assets I really
could use to jumpstart the rebuilding.”

Until that day, Morey is
left with a team without a point guard, and a bunch of assets nobody seems to want.